This research will inform our understanding of the importance of tritrophic interactions in ecology. The performance of the specialist herbivore that feeds upon the hemiparasite will be measured and related to the identity of the host plant with which C. Hemiparasites will be grown with individual hosts and then exposed to a specialist herbivore that feeds upon it. The second phase examines the importance of tritrophic interactions. Tissues will be analyzed to identify differences in nitrogen concentration and in secondary compounds. levisecta growing in each host treatment. Castilleja levisecta (golden paintbrush), a hemiparasite, has been experimentally planted alone or with one of 12 potential host plants.
The first phase examines the mechanisms that underlie differences in performance depending on the host.
The objective of this project is to experimentally determine the mechanisms that mediate these tritrophic interactions. Thus, the host plants that are being parasitized may indirectly affect the performance of specialist herbivores that feed on the parasite but not on them.
However, herbivores such as Euphydryas editha are specialists that preferentially oviposit and feed upon a small number of related plant species, including Castilleja species. For example, Castilleja species are 'generalist' hemiparasites that can parasitize many different host plants, although their performance is directly affected by the identity of the host plant. Non Technical Summary Hemiparasitic plants occupy a unique niche interacting with the host plants that they parasitize and with the herbivores that feed upon them.
0 kommentar(er)
